Your smile affects your life.

Your smile plays a bigger role in your life than you might think. A confident, bright smile is attractive and welcoming, and can even positively impact your relationships and your success at your workplace. Most importantly, when you feel happy with your own smile, you’ll feel happier overall. Cosmetic dentistry is a field of dentistry that focuses on enhancing the appearance of your smile, though many cosmetic dentistry procedures also improve your overall oral health, as well. Having healthy teeth and gums should be the most important thing for every adult, but fixing flaws that detract from our smiles can also be important.

If you’re not happy with your smile when you look in the mirror or see yourself in pictures, it’s time to consider cosmetic dentistry as a solution. Here are 7 ways cosmetic dentistry can change your life by solving common smile problems. 

1. Professional teeth whitening gives you an instant confidence boost.

As simple as whitening your teeth may seem, it really is one of the fastest and easiest ways to boost your confidence.

A bright, white smile looks fantastic, even if your teeth aren’t otherwise picture-perfect. The key here is to look for professional teeth whitening and avoid the D.I.Y route, which doesn’t yield great results and can cause sensitivity issues. With a professional in-office or at-home whitening treatment, you can give your smile a brilliant update and either stick with whitening only or look into additional cosmetic dentistry services after.

2. Porcelain veneers can give you a total smile makeover.

Veneers have come a long way since the days of glaringly white Chiclet teeth. Modern porcelain veneers can completely transform your smile in ways you may not realize.

Porcelain veneers are essentially a thin layer of porcelain skillfully molded and permanently bonded to the surface of your teeth. Veneers can cover up deep stains, misaligned teeth, chips, cracks, misshapen teeth, and more. They can only be placed over otherwise healthy teeth and are customized to their specific opacity and color levels to give you the best smile possible.

3. Porcelain bridges fill embarrassing gaps in your smile.

Having a tooth extracted can be embarrassing, especially when the gap left in your smile is apparent to others. Porcelain bridges are ideal for filling in this gap, giving you a natural look and also helping with proper bite alignment.

Porcelain bridges are semi-permanent, which allows your dentist to remove and replace them as needed. However, they are still very much a long-term cosmetic solution and a common alternative to the most expensive dental implants. Depending on the location of the gap and the health of your jaw and the surrounding teeth, a porcelain bridge may make more sense for you. If you’d eventually be interested in a dental implant, a bridge can also ensure the teeth surrounding the gap remain in place until you’re ready.

4. Porcelain crowns bring severely damaged teeth back to life.

Sometimes when a tooth is completely broken or has a very serious chip or crack, veneers simply won’t work because the stability of the problem tooth is questionable. Porcelain crowns are a permanent way of transforming a broken or worn down individual tooth into one that’s strong and beautiful.

While you do have options for a metal crown, if you’re interested in having a naturally beautiful smile, you’ll want to opt for a porcelain crown made to match your current tooth color. Once milled, your dentist will prepare the remaining tooth and place this crown over it just like a cap. Porcelain crowns can also be used in conjunction with veneers when the thickness of the veneer film alone won’t cover enough of the tooth.

5. Tooth-colored fillings make your smile natural and white.

Any new fillings you get will be tooth-colored, but if you have old silver fillings, you’ll be happy to know you can get rid of those old fillings once and for all. 

Replacing old silver fillings with tooth-colored materials is easy to accomplish and could actually be beneficial, as your dentist will be able to assess whether or not the tooth is still in good health. It isn’t uncommon for old silver fillings to fail or come loose, so replacing these with new fillings is really a win-win in terms of maintaining your oral health and improving your smile.

6. Composite bonding offers a quick fix for a problem tooth.

Composite bonding is similar to veneers but is more affordable and tends to only involve specific problem spots rather than the entirety of your smile.

If you have a chipped, broken, or otherwise damaged tooth, bonding could be an option when a crown isn’t necessary. Bonding is also ideal for covering individual teeth experiencing permanent discoloration or a deep stain. You can also look into composite bonding if you have a gap between two teeth that you’d like to be fixed. Composite bonding results look very natural and offer a fast fix for small cosmetic flaws.

7. Gum contouring brings balance to a gummy smile.

A gummy smile is a term used to describe an imbalance of the gum-to-tooth ratio visible when someone smiles, meaning there is more gum showing than desired. Sadly, many adults don’t realize that this cosmetic issue can be fixed!

Gum contouring can be done over a few visits with your dentist and is finished with porcelain veneers. This combination gently recontours the gum line, while the veneers lengthen the teeth to give your smile more balanced proportions. Your dentist will use a specially designed laser to essentially lift your gums to allow for the veneers to extend the tooth. The end result is a totally transformed smile that you won’t need to feel self-conscious about.

See how your dentist can help.

There’s no reason to hide your smile because of little flaws and imperfections. The possibilities of cosmetic dentistry are endless, and there are many ways a skilled dentist can help you get the smile you’ve always wanted.

Whether you are self-conscious about stained teeth or you’re interested in a complete smile makeover, schedule an appointment with your dentist to get a consultation. Your dentist will go over what options will work best for you and help you figure out a treatment plan that will work with your expectations.